The flow field is a pivotal part to manage the transport of water and gas in proton exchange membrane fuel cell. However, the reported water measurement methods (e.g., X-ray and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS)) cannot give a comprehensive understanding water distribution in the flow field, resulting in challenges in optimizing the channel design and enhancing fuel cell performance. Therefore, we propose a water measurement method combining the X-ray radiography with EIS to investigate the effect of different operating conditions on the growth law and distribution of liquid water in parallel and serpentine flow fields. The attenuation coefficient of liquid water to X-ray is calibrated with constant tube-current and tube-voltage of X-ray generator. Besides, the parallel flow field with hydrophobic treatment is studied. The results show that the water accumulation of the parallel flow field is far more than the serpentine flow field, and the water content of the middle region is higher than that of other regions in the parallel flow field. Furthermore, operating conditions (cathode inlet gas flow rate, inlet gas humidity, and back pressure) have little effect on the liquid water content of the middle region in the parallel flow field. The polarization curve, EIS result, and X-ray radiography show that the performance and water drainage capacity of the hydrophobic parallel flow field are better than the normal one.
Visualization experiments are carried out to investigate the atomization characteristics of R1336mzz flash spray cooling. The influences of superheat, spray distance, and nozzle orifice diameter on spray cooling performance are analyzed experimentally. As the superheat increases, finer droplets and thinner liquid film are observed; this is helpful to improve the two-phase heat transfer efficiency. Enlarging atomization angle under high superheat is also observed for flash spray cooling, and it benefits for reducing the spray distance. It can be found that when the inlet superheat is 19.8°C and the spray distance is 6 mm, the critical heat flux (CHF) reaches 251 W/cm2 and the maximum heat transfer coefficient (HTC) reaches 37.4 kW/(m2 °C), which are 55% and 11.6% higher than those when the inlet subcooling is 6.9°C and the spray distance is 12 mm, respectively. Using flash spray reduces the spray distance, which benefits for designing compact spray cooling device. In addition, the nozzle orifice diameter has great influence on the cooling performance of flash spray, and the choice of the nozzle depends on the superheat. This study provides a physical insight into the heat transfer enhancement in flash spray cooling.
